Wednesday, October 31, 2012

I feel like I start projects that I never finish all the time, but this one won't really be hard to keep up with. J asked me recently "What's the most books you've ever read in a year?" I realized I had no clue. My guess is probably around 50-60. I usually average a book or so a week, making around 4 books a month, putting us around 48 if it's 4 per month up to 52 if it's a book a week.This got me really interested in whether or not I really read as much as I feel like I do so I'm going to track it. If you don't follow me on Goodreads, well, that's where my list will be. But I also want to put up reviews of many of the books on here. I will also be including a few graphic novels to indulge the nerdy side. Before the project begins, though, there were two books I wanted to write up reviews on mostly because they had such high ratings, and I did not feel either deserved it. The first book was Comet's Tale by Steven Wolf. The second was The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa. I've written up the first, but will do the second later so as a precursor to the project and to make this posting a little longer, I'm adding the review of Comet's Tale here.I am such a sucker for any animal stories. I have read a few so far, but mostly have a long list of them to read still. This one caught my attention because my mom is disabled and has her own service dog. I have recently been looking into how the service dog training works and how I can get involved so this struck a cord instantly. That being said, I had to force myself to finish this book, and I read a lot.So what I liked: I liked Comet. I am not usually a fan of the greyhound breed, but I did like (some) of the descriptions of her personality and appearance and found myself smiling at times when he talks about her. I liked learning more about the breed itself. Wolf goes into the history of the breed, and I thought that was very interesting. I also really liked that she was brought from such a life of despair to being able to help someone and get so much enjoyment out of life. I loved the way her love of men in uniforms was portrayed. I found that very funny.What I did not like: The descriptions were so redundant. I read about her cinnamon coat and elegant manners so many times and often in the exact same phrases. The outline of the book itself was jumbled. Wolf would go from talking about how well she was doing training to talking about the history of the greyhound (which was interesting, the first time around). It would have been better if he had talked about his research on the breed all at once and taken care of it in one shot. It may have also saved his readers from having to read some of his repetition. Also, while I understand that he was going through a lot, his attitude really did not make me like him at all. I know he was trying to convey what he was going through, but he put everyone (Freddie, his daughters, his dogs) on a pedestal and beat himself up. This was very repetitive as well. Seeing a trend?I really think this could have been a much better story had he been a better storyteller or had the person who co-wrote had more input. I hate sounding so very heartless, but this was just so hard to get through.The review of The Lost Prince should be forthcoming soon(ish) so I know you'll all be waiting with bated breath. Also, as a fair warning, I'm on a paranormal romance kick so there may be some "garbage" titles coming up soon in this project now that I've found some new series!Have a wonderful day!